At the School Festival
by kamuinoyume
Summary: Inspired by the second Novel, a spin on the School Festival from an AoAka perspective. The GOM are in their II Year and getting ready for the infamous school festival, except for one Aomine Daiki, who is struggling to decipher his feeling for his Captain.
1. Chapter 1

**At the School Festival**

It had been a morose rainy season for the start of June, very much reflecting Aomine Daiki's thought on the infernal exam season, which had ended a few days ago.

He hated exams (wors time of the year)! But, luckily, they were over! And now the long awaited School Festival was upon them!

If there was one thing Aomine Daiki could commend the school upon was the fact that they'd chosen to place the festive celebration so soon after their exams had ended, kind of like a symbolic celebration for getting through all the hell and hard work. Of course, the celebration could have been better placed right in the middle of exams so that that damn thing didn't feel so long and draining, but he supposed he couldn't have everything.

Today happened to be the day before the Festival, and every classroom was getting ready for the celebration. And frankly, he would have been excited for it, had it not been for the theme that his classmates had chosen… better said the theme that a certain classmate proposed and everyone else just accepted because he was on the Student's Council Committee and no one really wanted to get in trouble with him.

Midorima Shintarou was Aomine Daiki's least favorite person in the whole school.

He was weird, he was nagging, he liked to carry around little weird objects because some cracked lady who presumed to know the fate of each person by looking up at the movement of the stars was telling him to buy them. And he had green hair (was that even natural? Aomine pondered as he scratched his own blue hair in wonder).

Of course, all those on their own would have not been enough to make Aomine hate the guy, after all, he could put up with weirder shit (like Kise's incessant blabbing, and Satsuki). In Basketball, they didn't have to interact much. Power Forwards were usually stationed close to the basket, while Midorima and all his weirdness were stationed way outside the 3-throw line. No, when the two of them didn't have to interact, Aomine was perfectly capable of ignoring the green-haired, and Midorima was quite content with nagging at him less that he would Kise and Murasakibara so he didn't actually mind all that much. It was when the two were forced to interact that he started minding the other's nagging personality. And, unfortunately for them, the two just so happened to share the same classroom.

And unfortunately for him, Midorima had suggested they help out the Astrology Society (because the club was not so popular so it didn't have many members).

He took one look at the weird crystal ball thingies and the creepy cards with weird designs on them and did 180 and was straight out the door. There was no way he would get involved with that shit!

He exited the building onto the first playground and decided to go and see what Akashi was up to.

The red-haired had been quite prominently figured in his mind now that Basketball had gotten a bit more exciting.

He didn't know why it was, but he'd undergone a sudden growth spur of sorts, gotten a bit bigger over the winter, and he felt in perfect shape and confident, like there was nothing he couldn't do when it came to Basketball. He'd managed to make some of those crazy shots he'd only dreamt of doing, and practice seemed to be getting so easy that he'd just breeze through most of the training. So he'd had a lot of time on his hands to observe his team mates. And that's when he'd started noticing him.

He knew Akashi was pretty special since the get go, if he were to be honest, he'd never had any complaints with regards to the red-haired and newly appointed Captain of their team. And he'd always thought him vaguely appealing to look at, but then again, he realized that he'd never actually gotten to actually_ see_ the red-haired up until that point when he actually got a good look at him, during that one Training Session when he'd gotten so bored sitting on the bench, he'd actually take to observing the other players.

It was then that he noticed that vivid red hair, because, really, that should have been the first thing to pop into his brain, it was such an intense shade. With eyes just as red and captivating, whit an intelligent look to his face. His Basketball style was also impressive. Barely making any unnecessary moves, he was swift and effective, dribbling the ball with absolute confidence, passing with absolute precision, and assessing any situation he was in calmly and swiftly devising a plan of attack or defense. He was really a treat to watch, and Aomine had found himself wondering why he hadn't bothered to observe him up until that day, or why he was wasting so much time thinking about a boy of all things?

It was somewhat confusing, since he was certain he was straight. He liked Gravure Magazines and big boobs for crying out loud! He was not attracted to flat surfaces, and he took his unresponsiveness to Kise's pretty face as a clear sign that he was not swinging that way (because he'd heard that most straight guy would go gay for someone like Kise, so he just assumed that if he wouldn't, that meant he wasn't). And he didn't like flat chested girls either, so, he really didn't understand his sudden obsession with wanting to observe his Captain so much, or just wanting to be near him.

He'd honestly give up on the subject after he'd found no solution for it after sleeping on it for a whole night, and just decided to go with the idea that Midorima had somehow used his weird magical green frog to curs him into liking Akashi (after all the green-haired had remarked he'd suffer a significant change that day).

"Excuse me!"

Someone shouted at him impolitely and Aomine turned to snap at whoever was being so annoying as to wake him from his musings, when he came face to face with two cute girls. They were both wearing Senior's badges, so that made them a year older than him, but they were average height for the girls in Japan, so that still meant he was taller than them, and one of them just so happened to be well endowed.

"What – what is it?" he asked, reframing himself from snapping at them.

The two of them held up a banner and asked in that ever so sweet way with identical charming smiles onto their faces.

"We're members of the Riddle Club and tomorrow our club is going to hold its contest, but we're not sure anyone's been informed yet since the guys forgot to put up the banner, so we decided to do it ourselves, but we can't really reach."

The girl looked miserable as she stared up the two long trees that were standing in front of them.

"We were wondering if you wouldn't mind helping us out?" he other girl asked shyly.

"Sure! No problem!" Aomine responded cheerfully and took the offered banner from the girl's hands and climbed up a tree.

It was better helping cute girls than going to spy on his Captain anyway.

He managed to tie the first end of the banner to the first tree, and jumped down to get started on the next and realized that the two girls disappeared. He was certain they might be busy, but he was upset that they hadn't cared enough to wait for him to finish his job before departing, it made him itch to dump the whole thing and run off to find Akashi…. No! That one sounded a little bit too creepy, and he had no idea how to explain himself to Akashi, for suddenly popping up for a visit, so he climbed up the second tree to tie the banner up.

And it was then that he spotted Satsuki wondering about on the ground.

"Satsuki!"

He called out to her and she responded with her usual motherly enthusiasm by reproaching him for sliding down the tree.

"I already said that I'm fine. You're too worried."

„But if the ace's hands were to be injured, it would be troublesome during the next competition."

That response completely left him cold, since he'd felt like his childhood friend and he had been drifting apart ever since Middle School started. She even called him _Aomine-kun_ now, like they were some kind of strangers and hadn't practically grown up together in the same damn neighborhood.

„So you were more worried of the competition…" he actually didn't know how to respond to that, but she distracted him by asked him about his class project, which he obviously deflected since he had no intention of revealing to her what his class was actually doing. He had the misfortunate idea to asking about her class's project, and had the horrid notion of Satsuki baking crêpe and serving that monstrosity to some poor bastard that was gonna eat the thing in good faith that the ones responsible for the food actually know what they were doing, and he was suddenly ill. He's face turned an unsavory shade of purple once he realized that that poor bastard could have been him had he not asked and found out what the girl was planning to do for tomorrow, and then he thanked the gods he'd been spared.

Satsuki threatened he'll regret not dropping by to eat her „food", but he honestly didn't see how that was possible, and didn't wish to continue such a conversation with his friend, so he... well, he didn't run away, he just distanced himself from her at an abrupt pace.

He let himself wonder, without really being aware of where his feet led him, up until he ended up in front of the Basketball training ground for the First Strings. He was surprised to find Akashi standing there, tapping his foot impatiently at the two girls from the Riddle Club who'd asked him to hang up the banner earlier.

It was actually quite weird, because he really did remember liking the two earlier, but, now, when the two were standing side by side with Akashi, he couldn't find himself remerging what was so appealing about them to begin with. His eyes were continuously drawn to Akashi, particularly his frowning face, and Aomine didn't quite like the look of that expression, so he went over to investigate as soon as the girls entered the Basketball Club.

"What are those two doing here?" Aomine asked, and Akashi stiffened slightly, seemingly take by surprise, before composing himself and turning to face him.

"They wished to borrow the Basketball Court for their competition tomorrow."

"The Riddle Club thing?" he asked confused, or maybe just wanting to strike up a conversation with Akashi and being completely unable to think of something better to say.

"Yes. They apparently want to use the Gym to create some sort of game for their contest. Though I honestly can't imagine how that would be useful in a riddle competition," Akashi said and shuck his head in disapproval.

"Maybe it's made for the idiot ones," Aomine suggested and Akashi gave him a funny look.

"Why would the idiot ones want to partake in a riddle competition?"

"Maybe they have a good prize? Not really sure."

Aomine shrugged. Akashi considered it.

"Perhaps… By the way, Aomine, what are you doing here? Weren't you supposed to help Midorima with the Astrology Club?"

"We finished." Aomine lied, and he somehow had the feeling that Akashi could pick up on that. Nonetheless he seemed to brush the matter off.

"Than you're free?"

He asked looking up at him with the barest hint of a smile, and Aomine found himself rooted to the spot and unable to respond.

Why would Akashi pose such a question? What was he after….? He couldn't possibly…? Could he….? Could he really want to ask him…?

"Um… Yeah, I guess…?"

He managed to barely choke out a response while averting his eyes from the other.

"Great!" Akashi exclaimed relieved. "Than you wouldn't mind helping me out with moving the Basketball Hoops and balls from the club? I'd hate the through of someone damaging or misplacing them while they're preparing for whatever it is they're planning to do for their little club activities."

"Hm…? Oh! Yeah, sure! I'll help." Aomine said and furiously scolded him for letting his imagination wonder.

True to Akashi's character he didn't slack off on the job and helped with every single one of the hoops they had to carry around. At one point in time Aomine became worried he might actually break something, what with being so small and looking so fragile.

They didn't make much small talk aside from the absolute necessary to move the things around, and the whole process ended up completely wasting all of their afternoon, since the hoops were so heavy and there were only two of them. But Aomine did get a pleasant and unexpected reward out of all this: Akashi was dripping sweaty by the time they were finished.

He'd left his coat in the locker room, and his tie had been discarded a few hours ago, with barely one of the buttons of his shirt left open, but the aforementioned garment was tousled and stuck out of his pants, with the sleeves rolled up. His hair was slightly messy thanks to the constant whipping of sweat from his forehead, and his cheeks were flushed from all the heat, and lips slightly open, breathing in heavily.

The red-haired was quite a sight, and Aomine was so very grateful for the excuse that being tired after a long day's work provided for his labored breathing, because otherwise this would have turned very awkward very soon.

"Thank you very much for helping out," Akashi said as he turned to him, and Aomine couldn't help but follow a bag of sweat that was traveling down his cheek, and heading for his neck. Without realizing what he was doing, he reached out a hand and wiped it off.

He didn't know for sure if it was fatigue playing tricks on him, but he though he saw Akashi's cheeks flush harder for a second, but he suddenly blinked and the flush was gone and Akashi's eyes were lowered to the ground.

"You should go and drink some water. You look like you're about to drop dead from dehydration." Aomine teased, mostly to cover for his earlier indiscretion and partly out of concern too. The red-haired did look like he was about to drop dead from exhaustion… and then he realized that might have not been such a bad thing, because he'd get to play the gallant night and carry the boy to the infirmary, and this was getting too sappy even for him.

Akashi huffed indignantly and spun on his heals to do "just that", and Aomine really started to regret his earlier teasing.

That was the last he saw of Akashi that day, and soon as the red-haired left, the two girls from earlier kind of started to become cute again; through Aomine held a personal grudge against them for leaving him stranded up a tree earlier.

Aomine walked home with the usual bubbly group that night (Tetsu, Satsuki, Kise, Midorima and Murasakibara), Akashi had gone home early, like he usually did (which very much irked him, for reasons he was not yet quite ready to admit to himself).

"I wish you'd help a little more suu~" Kise whine at Murasakibara. "You're part of our club after all!"

Murasakibara continued munching on one of his chocolate cigarettes and paid the blonde no mind whatsoever.

"Same goes for you too Aomine! You should consider contributing more to activities that your fellow classmen are engaging with nanodayo! It might actually help you make some friends," Midorima picked in like a squeaking quack, and Aomine wanted nothing more than to cover his ears and double back, maybe he'd forgotten about Satsuki and could use her as an excuse to escape.

No such luck. His pink haired friend was glued to his best friend and partner Tetsu, who'd apparently made the misfortunate decision to invite her to participate in some weird contest with him…

"Don't compare me to you!" Aomine snapped at Midorima. "Just because you don't have any friends doesn't me I ain't got any! Ow! Tetsu! What was that for?"

"For being an insensitive jerk!" It was obviously Satsuki who replied. Kise had taken to try and console Midorima, who was unleashing his vitriol upon the poor misfortunate blonde, while Murasakibara really couldn't be bothered to interfere, and Satsuki and Tetsu had taken to ganging up on him. Yep, another ordinary night for him.

Or at the very least it started out ordinary, till he started having those ridiculous dreams about Akashi suddenly getting too hot for his shirt and slowly unbuttoning it to reveal his milky white skin, cheeks flushed with a cute pink hue and lips slightly parted with eyes staring seductively at him, beckoning him closer –

And that is the point when Aomine jumped out of bed feeling completely horrified and rushed to the bathroom to soak his head in cold water. He did not manage to go back to sleep that night, and he prayed to whatever god would hear him that he not encounter his Captain at Tomorrow's festival, else he'd die of shame if he had to look the red-haired in the eyes after _that_!

-OOOOO—

**AN**: So, I plan for this to be a two parter, or longer, I don't know yet exactly, but I do love AoAka, and since they are my OTP from KnB I decided to write this little fick for them (it's inspired by the Second Novel, the one with the Festival). Hope you like it and please Review!


	2. Chapter 2

**At the School Festival Chapter 2**

It was finally time for the school festival, and Akashi was making his rounds around the school, checking that every club had finished with the preparations and was ready to open shop.

It was a tedious task, but as the head of the Student Council, it was also his duty to do so.

Most of the clubs had finished with the preparations, with only a few exceptions. Unfortunately for him, most of the clubs that hadn't finished were the classrooms of his Kiseki comrades.

Midorima was whining about Aomine who was apparently no where to be found even after he'd diligently informed him last night of the importance of Astrology when they'd walked home back from school. Aomine had apparently grunted and so Midorima had taken that as a sign that the boy was willing to cooperate with the rest of the club, but he was running too late, and Akashi didn't actually have the patient to hear Midorima whine about things he'd whined before, so he left, promising to go find Aomine.

Akashi honestly couldn't sympathize with Midorima, since this was the second year in a row when the green-haired was having difficulties with managing Aomine's behavior, and as the President of the class, and a representative of the Student Council, Akashi felt like it was the green-hair's responsibility to have already dealt with these kind of problems.

Kise was whining about them not having an outfit that would fit Murasakibara, and the giant couldn't be bothered to help in the search for clothes. Luckily some of the girls in the classroom found a frilly dress with laces and ribbons long enough to fit the giant, and Murasakibara didn't look in the very least bothered by the fact that he was asked to wear a woman's outfit for the day. They even gave him a curly-blonde haired wig to go with the look. Akashi found it rather cute, while Kise decided to have him impersonate some character from some show the red-haired was not familiar with.

Momoi's little cooking club had ended up in quite a disaster, because the other girls were apparently not aware of Momoi's atrocious culinary skills, and had actually made the misfortune of letting her cook the first badge. After the incident, the club members banned Momoi from the kitchen and proceedings went on as planned.

Akashi was so very glad Kuroko Tetsuya proved to be a responsible individual and had his class well organized and ready for today's activities. Unfortunately Kuroko had no idea where Aomine was, and neither did Momoi or Kise, so Akashi was left wondering the school premises for him.

Aomine Daiki was too much trouble for his own good. He was a great Basketball player, but way too stubborn and disobedient to be considered much of a team player and on more than one occasion Aomine's impulsiveness had ruined Akashi's well designed plays. Despite the success of his improvisations, Akashi through them disrespectful, and not so much towards his team mates, but more toward himself. He had after all worked so hard to develop those plays and Aomine would just shrug all his efforts up like they were nothing.

"_I don't understand why you're being so worked up about if the ball went it?"_

Of course he didn't understand. Aomine wasn't particularly knows for being the most sensitive of people, which is why Akashi would give up on trying to argue with him and just resign himself to relying on the other as long as he kept pulling through, because as soon as he stopped being useful... He actually didn't know what he'd do, if he were to be completely honest with himself.

Aomine Daiki was a complication, not just when it came to Akashi's basketball career, but also for the plan he had, no, his father had designed for his life.

You see, his father, was a smart man, whom Akashi admired very much and thought of as a form of inspiration, so when his father had told him about the plans he had for shaping his son into what he deemed a "worthy" successor, Akashi had listened diligently. He would be homeschooled up until Middle School, when his father would hire a number of tutors and masters to help him develop the proper etiquettes and adequate mindset to become a leader of his pears. Than he'd be set out into the word since Middle School to apply all that he had learned at home to actual life and gain experience with communicating with people (of course it was already pre-established that he'd join the prestigious Teiko Middle School because of it's excellent reputation when it came to sports and academics alike). His father had even established a sort of damage control period if Akashi were to prove inadequate at dealing with people during his Middle School year, he would be homeschooled for High School and reintegrated back into society during College. And then he'd marry a woman of his father's choosing that would help benefit the family, and then he'd have a son heir who would inherit the title as he had.

Akashi hadn't actually realized at the time, when his father had first told him of the plan just how high the expectations ran, and how little faith his father actually had in him. That had slowly dawned onto him with every impressed look his father had given him when his tutors had shown him the progress of his son. Granted it had taken him some time to distinguish the shocked expression from the many delighted looks that his tutors usually bestowed upon him when he'd excel at a subject that they were teaching; but he had noticed it, and couldn't help but think that his decision for integrating him so soon in society had more to do with his certainty that Akashi would fail to adapt to the outside world and would need to be reeducated than with the enthusiasm of seeing his son strive.

The first disagreement they ever had was about Akashi's "inappropriate" interest in playing a peasants sport such as Basketball, rather than taking up something more appropriate like riding, or archery.

Akashi had taken it upon himself to prove his father wrong, and show the old man that he was a fool to think he'd ever fail, so by the time it came to him entering Middle School, he'd already made up his mind to become a part of the Basketball club.

"_You are not permitted to neglect your studies just do dedicate yourself to some run of the mill sports!"_

Of course he hadn't. He'd gotten perfect grades for all of his assignments, and had even enrolled in the Student Council Committee.

"_I expected nothing less of you."_

And he was doing just fine with both, he'd even been named President of the Student Council at the start of his second year, and he'd even gotten to be Captain of the Basketball Club.

"_Of course you were named Captain! I don't expect any of the other brutes had the necessary brain capacity to fulfill the role."_

That one had actually rather irked him, since people like Nijimura, Midorima and quite a few of his seniors were no where near the level of stupidity that his father was implying, but he'd held his tongue since angering his father meant the revokal of certain privileges he rather enjoyed, like being in the Basketball club, and having his driver park a few blocks from the school, as to not attract too much attention to his status as a rich kid.

"Akashi!" Nijimura called out to him, snapping the red-haired out of his dark through.

"Nijimura-Sempai?"

"Heard you were looking for Aomine, I spotted him near the Basketball club a few minutes ago."

"Thank you."

Akashi rushed over to the Basketball club and indeed, found Aomine standing there lazing about slumped up against a tree. It very much irked him since so many people were preoccupied with making this event interesting and enjoyable for all the other students and there sat the blue-haired just not giving a damn about everyone else's efforts.

Akashi sometimes questioned his sanity for liking the guy. He'd confirmed the fact to himself long before, when in first year, that first time he'd seen the other's face, he'd not been able to stop thinking about him for days on end. It had taken him a little bit longer to define the feeling as "like", since he'd been raised in a family where marriage and dating were more a formality and had more to do with tradition and honor that any actually inclination of romantic interest from the two parties involved, so he had been left to blindly deal with undefined feelings of longing, the anxiety of having to change in the same locker room as the other and the depression that came with Aomine's lack of interest when it came to him as a person or a team mate. He really had had no definition for the word and the sudden emotional turmoil that had befallen him up until he'd had the brilliant idea to google the weird feeling. And he hadn't liked the definition very much. It felt too impractical, and too irrational for him to accept it. So, he supposed he had to be grateful for the fact that the other boy seemed to not be interested in him when it came to that regard (he was quite certain Aomine was more into big boobs given the many disgusting magazines he had stored up in his locker that would fall over every time the other tried to change).

He'd long rationalized his attraction to Aomine as a sort of curiosity for what seemed to be his polar opposite, and decided to ignore the other when it came to anything but Basketball, (through he did end up slipping every once in a while), what he couldn't ignore however, was Aomine sleeping like a pig when everyone else was busy with working their asses off.

"Is this what you plan to do for the entire festival?" Akashi asked, while folding his hands in front of his chest and glaring down at the other's sleepy form.

Aomine blinked once or twice, sleepily up at him and when he registered who exactly it was that was glaring at him, the other boy seemed to jump up in surprise (or was it fear?) and distance himself from the red-haired by a few feet.

Akashi certainly didn't understand his anxiety, nor the other's need to not look him in the eyes as he replied to him, because as far as he remembered, Aomine was still the mot disrespectful members of the Basketball club when it came to following his orders.

"Gez, Akashi, you startled me!"

"My apologies, but I was trying to catch your attention."

"Well, couldn't you have done it without scaring the living daylight out of me?"

"Would you have preferred if I'd shaken you gently and whispered softly in your ear till you decided it was convenient for you to wake up?" Akashi asked sarcastically, slightly irritated with the other boy.

Aomine seemed to glare at him as if he'd suddenly sprouted a second hear, before turning his head away from him, most like laughing his ass off at the silly thing Akashi had just said.

It suddenly dawned onto Akashi just how embarrassing his earlier sayings were and he suddenly flushed darkly feeling very uncomfortable and turned away from the other, expecting to be greeted by fits of laughter and a snarky comment from the blue-haired, but none came.

"So, what did you came here for?" Aomine asked instead, making Akashi turn to look at him curiously.

He still had his back to the red-haired, head fixated on the Basketball court, his body stiffly rigging, like his very life depended on him standing as still as possible.

"Midorima asked me to come and get you since you were late. In fact the clubs should have already started their activities."

"I don't care about that," Aomine said in a somewhat snappish voice still not turning to face him. "I'm not gonna participate."

"Is something wrong, Aomine?" Akashi asked now getting concerned over the other boy's weird behavior.

Akashi tried to reach out to the other boy but his hand was suddenly grabbed by Aomine's, who spun around on the spot to face him.

There was a weird look in his eyes that Akashi had never seen directed at him before. A look that made him very uncomfortable for reasons he couldn't quite explain to himself, but that at the same time, he found that he couldn't tare his eyes away from the sight before him.

"Aomine…" Akashi whispered meaninglessly, not really having any kind of follow up to that word, but Aomine seemed to have been triggered into action by his silent cry, since his head slowly began descending towards the other, eyes glued to the red-hair's lips.

Akashi felt his cheeks begin to hear up as his heart beat started accelerating and his brain went into overdrive.

_What the hell is he doing? Does he want to…? No! This can not be happening? This is not happening!_

Akashi shut his eyes tight as he felt Aomine's hot breath wash over his skin and called out the other's name in a choked cry waiting for the inevitable.

But it never came.

He felt a hand slowly pet his head and ruffle his hair, as the hand that had grabbed his wrist loosed enough for Akashi to pull free.

Akashi opened his eyes to see Aomine's lopsided grin directed at him.

"You really look exhausted. Maybe you should stop worrying about other people's business and go and have fun for today?" the blue-haired said good-naturally as he continued to ruffle Akashi's hair.

Akashi was stuck staring at him for a few second, not sure what to make of the sudden exchange. And then it clicked.

_He was mocking me!_

Akashi's slapped the other's arm away irritated.

"Fine! Do as you will!" He snapped at the blue-haired and turned on his heals to walk away.

He'd actually thought Aomine was going to kiss him for a second there. He couldn't believe how stupid he'd been! He'd already known Aomine wasn't interested in him, so he supposed he only had himself to blame really. But that was that, now that he'd finally found the blue-haired, his job of taking care of the preparations had ended, which meant that he could finally participate in some of the festival activities which he had been very much looking forward to, and he was not going to let Aomine Daiki's assholery get in the way of that.

-OOOOO—

**AN**: I don't particularly like the ending of this chapter, but I don't actually think Akashi as the kind of person that would run off into the bathroom to cry his eyes out because he thinks that the guy that he likes had been a dick and all that. I'd rather see him as some kind of expert escapist that would immediately turn his mind to other activities and forget about the incident till it was suddenly brought back up for some reason or another. Well, I'm not so certain I did Akashi's character any justice, what I wrote up there is basically my interpretation of the character, so I hope you guys liked it. Thanks for reading, and please Review.


	3. Chapter 3

**At the School Festival Chapter 3**

When the watch rang at 6:30 that morning Aomine was already awake.

He'd not been able to get a single minute of piece and quite since he'd been thinking of Akashi the entire night, and it kind of baffled him, since this had never happened before.

Usually, when he got a crush on someone, he could always get rid of the pesky unwanted feeling if he'd just decide not to think about that person, but Akashi was proving to be a tad more difficult to handle. He'd refuse to leave Aomine's mind even when he was thinking about Basketball and big boobs, and all the usual tricks that just weren't working worth a damn. He'd tosses and turned in his bed for hours on end till the clock rang, and he decided he might as well get up and prepare for the day.

His morning routine was the usual. Dad had woken up early and gone to open the shot, while his mom had made him a bento and breakfast was already laid up on the table.

There was this nice little recipe that his mom made every time he was in a mood (through he had no idea how she knew), fish fried with a mixture of scrambled eggs and flower and a little salt, served with a bowl of rice, and Aomine considered it to be the most delicious thing ever.

"What's the occasion?" Daiki asked as he settled himself down at the table.

"You went to the bathroom 5 times last night. Figured you couldn't sleep," said his mom as she placed a cup of green tea beside him and went to sit on the other side of the table. "Something wrong Dai-chin?"

He so hated that nickname, and he wouldn't forgive anyone else for calling him that.

"The school festival. Midorima wants us to help the Astrology club," Daiki answered. He wasn't lying. He did have a problem with Midorima and his stupid little idea.

"And you don't want to?"

"I think it's ridiculous!" Daiki answered honestly.

"Ah," his mom nodded patiently and leaned over the table to give him a questioned look. "And what's really bothering you? You've complained about Midorima-kun before, but you've never lost any sleep over him and his antiques."

Daiki ducked his head and tried to eat faster.

"Alright," his mom backed down. "Alright. If you don't want to tell me, you don't have to. But if someone is bullying you –"

Daiki burst out laughing.

"No one's bullying me mom!" He said wiping tears from his eyes.

His mother pouted and her cheeks reddened contrasting heavily with her navy blue hair. It was a few shades lighter than his hair was, and his father had jet black hair. His own hair was somewhat of a mixture of the two, and he very much liked it that way.

"Sorry," he apologized. "Didn't mean to laugh at you."

He finished up his food and went over to kiss his mom on the cheek. They had paled down to their original ivory color, but his mom still had a worried expression on her face.

"You know you can talk to me if you need anything, right?"

"O' course!"

He winked at her and was off.

Despite the brave façade Aomine had put up for his mom, he was still tired as hell.

He reach the school grounds barely on time, and spend a few minutes debating with his sleepy self whether he should go and help Midorima or if he should just find some place to take a nap. His lids were heavy and his sight was foggy, so he figured he wouldn't be much help for Midorima in his current state, so he just decided to wonder off, until he cam across the gym and decided this was as good a place to sleep as any. He slumped himself against a tree and blacked out.

-OOOOO—

"Is this what you plan to do for the entire festival?"

The voice rang in his ears loudly and Aomine opened his eyes slowly, blinking once or twice.

There was a figure sitting above him. A familiar redhair.

…

_Wait? Redhair?_

Aomine opened his eyes wide and, without a doubt that was Akashi Seijurou standing in front of him and glaring down at him.

_Shit! This is one of those crazy dreams! _Aomine thought as he jumped up right and distanced himself from the other boy.

… or, maybe it wasn't… since this version wasn't all scantily dressed and trying to make the moves on him…

_Oh, shit this is the actually Akashi!_

And suddenly Aomine was feeling ten times more uncomfortable than he'd ever felt in his life.

"Gez, Akashi, you startled me!" he said truthfully, doing his best to act natural while avoiding to look the other in the eye.

"My apologies, but I was trying to catch your attention."

Oh, he'd got his attention alright! All that exhaustion he was feeling before had suddenly evaporated into thin air.

"Well, couldn't you have done it without scaring the living daylight out of me?"

"Would you have preferred if I'd shaken you gently and whispered softly in your ear till you decided it was convenient for you to wake up?"

….

There was clear sarcasm in the boy's voice, but that didn't stop Aomine from glaring at him like a dumb-founded owl, before quickly averting his look as a deep blush spread over his face.

_Damn it Akashi! I already have nightmare-you filling my brain with that crap, I don't need to hear real-you say things like that too!_

He was mortified, since the "nightmares" from last night came flooding back in full force, and he had no idea how he'd be able to bear to look Akashi in the eye without giving himself away for the pervert that he was.

"So, what did you came here for?" Aomine asked hoping to get to the bottom of why the other was here, so that he might send him on his way before this became too uncomfortable.

"Midorima asked me to come and get you since you were late. In fact the clubs should have already started their activities." Akashi answered.

"I don't care about that," Aomine snapped and immediately felt sorry about it. But he desperately wanted the other to leave. Like right now! "I'm not gonna participate."

"Is something wrong, Aomine?" Akashi asked concern clear in his voice.

_Yeah, something's wrong! You're wrong! Why are you still here?_

He felt Akashi getting closer to him. He had no idea how he knew, but he just did, like a presence, reaching out to touch him. He grabbed him instead.

_Ah, fuck it!_

And he spun on his toes and came face-to-face with Akashi's puzzled look.

There was too much red for his own good. And too damn close. Red eyes, red hair, smooth white skin and pink cherry lips looking so delicious and tempting.

"Aomine…" they whispered, and he was lost in their echo, head bending down wanting to feel them against his own.

The second one was choked.

"Aomine!"

It was like a bucked of cold water that had been splashed on top of him.

His eyes opened fully and saw Akashi's eyes shut tight, his head leaning away from him and wrist struggling to pull out from his grip, and he panicked. Big time!

_Fuck! What the hell am I doing?_

He let go of Akashi's wrist, arm reaching out to pat his head, like he had done to Satsuki on so many times when she got mad at him and started crying. It worked on her, so he figured it might work on Akashi too. The red-haired seemed like he was second away from bursting into tears, and Aomine really did not want to be the bastard that would make Akashi Seijurou cry.

Akashi tentatively opened his eyes to look at him and Aomine regaled him with his most charming smile, trying to appear as friendly as possible.

"You really look exhausted. Maybe you should stop worrying about other people's business and go and have fun for today?" he said as politely as possible and prayed to every god he knew that Akashi would forget all about this little incident.

Akashi, however, seemed to get really mad at him, for reasons that were still unclear to Aomine, and bolted before he got to ask what he'd done wrong.

_It was obviously the smile. I wasn't friendly enough._ Aomine thought, resigned to the notion that Akashi most likely hated him for the particular incident.

He felt really uncomfortable standing there in front of the gym all by himself and decided to wonder off in search of some of his friends to help distract him from those pink lips and the pleasant feel of Akashi's hot breath up against his skin –

No! He was not having any of that!

Though he'd nearly kissed him!

_Fuck! I nearly kissed him! What's he gonna think of me now?!_ He's probably gonna assume Aomine was some weird pervert and he'll never talk to him again. _I need to fix this!_

But he had no idea _how_ he was to go about fixing this, since, if he were to be honest, he didn't really want to fix it. Actually, fuck that! He did! He wanted to go back to that point in time and actually kiss the red-haired, then Akashi would have a legitimate reason for hating him, and his brain wouldn't be constantly wondering whether those lips were as soft as they looked to be.

"Aomine-kun, what's causing you to make that expression? You look constipated." Kuroko asked startling the soul right out of Aomine's already worn out body.

Aomine jumped a few inches in the air and landed on his feet only to spin around and grab Kuroko by the hair, fist clenched in anger.

"What the hell Tetsu! I told you to stop doing that!"

"I apologize," Kuroko said in that monotone voice of his, and Aomine really didn't care to ponder whether he was sorry or not, because he had important issues on his mind…. important issues that he wanted to forget about! And here was Tetsu, like a godsend to help him with that matter!

"Why are you wearing that?" Aomine asked pointing at Kuroko's tailcoat while releasing the blue-haired.

Kuroko distanced himself a bit from him and tried to straighten his hair that Aomine had messed up earlier and answered:

"Or class decided to open a Curry shop, and the girls insisted we had to look the part as well."

Aomine chuckled.

"You look ridiculous in that suit!"

"Thanks."

"So, what are you doing here?"

"Picking up customers."

"Why? You guys opened a curry shop. Why wouldn't people be flinging themselves at you?"

Kuroko hesitated before finally saying:

"The name of the shop is… somewhat unusual…"

"Can't be _that_ bad!" Aomine insisted. "Come one, let's have a lock!"

"So, you'll be my customer?"

"Sure," Aomine nodded and followed Kuroko into the school and up the stairs to the other's classroom, where he was greeted with an atrocious sight.

"Elegant de Curry?! That's the name you guys chose…?"

Aomine could not wrapped his head around the fact that 20 something people had brainstormed for ideas on how to name their shop, and had turned up with such a ridiculous name… well, he supposed all the weird ones had to go somewhere… he just wished they had taken Midorima with them so that his class could be free of the weird.

"Please don't let the name discourage you from visiting our shop," Kuroko asked. "The curry is really good."

"Alright. I've got nothing better to do anyways." Aomine shrugged and followed Kuroko inside.

True to his word, the curry that Kuroko served him was good, and Aomine was content enough, and lazy enough to spend the whole morning and early afternoon at the Elegant de Curry, stuffing himself, chitchatting with Kuroko and lazing about. He even fell asleep at the table, since Kuroko woke him up a little past noon to inform him that they were going to close up shop.

Well, jolly him! He'd almost missed out on all the festival! That was a rather depressing thought…

"Aomine-kun, where will you be going now?" Kuroko asked, once again wearing his normal jean and white shirt attire.

"I don't know," Aomine said honestly. "Probably wonder around a bit and see what's going on."

"I'm going to participate in the Riddle Society's stamp rally. Would you like to come watch?"

Aomine shrugged and decided to tag along, since he had nothing better to do, and frankly, he did not want to be alone with his thoughts right now. Any kind of red color that he was seeing was bringing back a shit ton of regrets that he did not want to deal with, so he supposed watching Tetsu struggle to win a contest could prove to be a good distraction.

"Is this that contest you invited Satsuki to?" Aomine asked out of sheer curiosity.

"Yes." Kuroko answered.

And suddenly Aomine'd interest increased tenfold. It was always such a delightful sight to watch that nagging childhood-friend-who-did-not-want-to-admit-that-sh e-knew-him struggle with something that always managed to bring a smile to Aomine's face. He knew it was bad manners, and that he was being a horrible friend, and sometimes, he even regretted feeling happy at her expense. But other times, he most definitely didn't. Today was one of those times, since the moment he and Tetsu arrived at the school playground and found Satsuki, she'd completely ignored his greeting and glomped Kuroko.

"I'm not ignoring you. It's just that there's only Tetsu-kun in my eyes."

And he really, really would have punched her if she weren't a woman, because some times, she just annoyed him that much.

"That's called _ignoring_!" He settled for a complaint instead.

Kuroko distracted them from one of their typical arguments by reminding Momoi that they needed to register for the contest.

"Aomine-kun, aren't you here to sign up for the competition?" Satsuki asked, and Aomine wanted to burst out laughing. Did he look like a smart person to her?

"Nope. I'm just looking for a place to laze off and rest, and in the end bumped into Tetsu and followed him here."

He summed up what happened to her, and Satsuki gave her usual bewildered look and companied about his laziness, which Aomine didn't care much for.

"So, what's the stamp rally competition about?" He asked out of boredom than any interest in the contest.

Kuroko explained that it was a kind of contest that took place every year and it had different trials that they needed to complete, and Aomine spaced out during half of his speech, up until Kuroko told him about the prize.

"Are you serious?! A pair of Air Jordan?!" Aomine asked amazed. "I've wanted a pair for years!"

Aomine instinctively grabbed Kuroko and said: "Tetsu, let's go sign up for the contest!"

"What?!" Satsuki exclaimed looking indignant. "No! Tetsu-kun is signing up with me!" and she pulled on Kuroko's shoulder, dragging him away from Aomine.

Aomine got extremely annoyed at his childhood friend.

"What does it matter? Satsuki, you're not interested in Basketball shoes!"

"But I'm interested in the rally competition!"Momoi said.

Aomine wanted to mentally scream at her: _No! You're not! You don't give a fuck about the competition! You just want to participate in the contest with Tetsu as some weird girly attempt to get close to him, and you can do that some other time!_ He really failed to understand how his childhood friend could be so selfish as to place her desire of getting close to Kuroko over his need for those basketball shoes! He needed new shoes anyway! And these were Air Jordan! She could get close to Tetsu some other time, but he might not get a chance like this ever again!

And they started bickering and pulling on Kuroko, spewing insults at each other, and making a total scene right there in the middle of the registration, and no one dared to interfere, because they were probably too afraid to get mixed up in their arguments.

Well, no one but Kise.

"Huh? Kurokocchi?! What are you guys doing…? If you argue here you might end up troubling people."

Kise kindly informed them, not really wanting to be dragged in the middle of the argument either. Aomine and Momoi were so bewildered by the masses of girls lined up next to Kise, apparently waiting for something, that they stopped arguing.

"I think you're the one causing trouble, dragging your fangils all over the place." Aomine informed him.

Kuroko took the opportunity to distance himself from Aomine and Momoi when the two became distracted with Kise and his herd of followers.

Kise started bragging about the fact that so many girls had invited him to join the rally competition with them, and Aomine was suddenly feeling very unsympathetic that he wanted to tell the other to go jump off a bridge. _Pretty boy bastard!_

"The registration for the rally competition will close soon."

Someone announced, and a sudden argument broke up between the two groups again, with Aomine and Momoi fighting over Kuroko and the fangirls fighting over Kise, up until Kuroko decided to step in.

"Can you please listen to what I have to say? How about Momoi and I will join as one team, and Aomine-kun and Kise-kun can join as the other team?"

"Are you serious?!" Aomine, Momoi and Kise asked at the same time.

Aomine was pissed. "Oi, Tetsu! Why should I be in the same team as Kise?!"

Kise whined about "What do you mean by that? What's wrong with me?" and Aomine felt like punching him in the face. Well, the herd of pissed off fangirls that were looking at Aomine as if they were ready to lynch him any second was just _one_ of the major issued that was wrong with Kise Ryota.

"I've already invited Momoi-san," Kuroko said, and frankly, Aomine was ready to argue, till Kuroko reminded him just how horrible the two were as a duo when it came to anything outside of basketball, and Aomine decided to begrudgingly accept Kise as his partner.

Kise's fangirld looked pissed, but no one was getting in the way of Aomine and those Air Jordan shoes, so he glared all of them away.

Then both groups went to register and headed for the starting line of the rally contest. It appeared that there were a total of 4 challenges set throughout the school and wining a challenge resulted in a stamp that they need in order to advance to the next step, and once the final stamp had been collected, the winner would be declared.

The first game: Three-legged-race to the second playground.

Momoi was fumbling like an enamored fangirl because she was leg-tied to Kuroko, while Aomine grimaced. As most people knew, running was his specialty, but he wasn't really used to this kind of running, and he was quite pissed at the prospect that Kise might slow him down. Kuroko, he would have carried, he wasn't that fat, but Kise weight considerably more than Kuroko did, so Aomine would be heavily restricted by the other's speed.

"It's a little disappointing," Kise whined.

"What is?"

"Well, all the other team are a guy and a girl. Why am I the only one stuck here with my arms around another guy?"

He pouted and Aomine felt the sudden urge to punch him again.

"I'm not happy about this either," Aomine reminded him, and cut off his babble by focusing on practicing to run with Kise weighing down on him. Though, surprisingly, Kise was nicely in tune with his running rhythm. Well, he supposed that was to be expected, after all the training the two of them had done together… the thought suddenly crossed his mind that Kise might have been the better partner rather than Kuroko, but a flash of red from some place, reminded him that there might have been a better option… and he was suddenly cursing his idiocy for not having thought of Akashi sooner.

Aomine suddenly felt a blush overtake him as the idea of being leg-ties to Akashi registered in his mind, and he suddenly thought he understood why Satsuki was so damn determined to participate in the contest with Tetsu despite not being interested in the prize.

"Aominecchi? What happened?" Kise asked distracting him from his thoughts. "You suddenly slowed down?"

Aomine shock his head to clear it up, and decidedly kept his thought on the Air Jordan shoes, hoping those would be enough to distract him from Akashi. It had worked for a while after all, and he really wanted those shoes.

"Nothing. Let's get this over with."

And BANG! went the pistol, signalizing the start of the contest, and Aomine and Kise dashed forward, far in the lead.

"Kise you're to slow!" Aomine whined.

"It's Aominecchi who's too fast!" Kise shot back, and Aomine was about to snap an insult back at him, when a sudden chill overtook him.

"Turn!" and he spun around 90 degrees, feeling suddenly uneasy, like an animal caught in a mine bomb of some kind. Turned out he was right as the couple that was right behind them seeing their chance to take the lead, sprang forward, much to Kise's dismay and protests and suddenly disappeared out of sight and through a hole in the ground.

The entire contestants that hadn't fallen through a hole remained frozen in place for a second up until the announcer informed them that those who'd fall into the 'Traps' would be disqualified.

Kise's mouth did an awkward twitch.

"They actually set up traps?" he asked befuddled. But Aomine's mouth turned up into an outright smile.

"Just the way I like it. There's really no fun if there's no challenge." He wrapped his arm around Kise's shoulder and said: "Kise, we're going in!"

"Are you serious?!" Kise asked startled as he was forced to pick up the pace to keep up with him.

"Just believe in my instincts!" Aomine said, thinking his words to be very reassuring, but Kise didn't seem to believe they were.

"You're too reckless!" But Kise quickened his pace nonetheless.

They obviously got first place.

Through, the second competition was a quiz…. The rules were rather simple. If you got one question right, you cleared the round and were allowed to move on to the next lever, but if you got a question wrong, you'd be disqualified. The advantage: you could pass up for answering an infinite number of questions. The disadvantage: Aomine and Ksie were most definitely the 'least smart' people when it came to their group.

Kuroko and Momoi had long since cleared the level, and Aomine was rapidly starting to lose his patience. Every second that they wasted here in this god forsake place gave their opponents and advantage to complete the next level, and he did not want to lose! It also became harder and harder to keep Akashi away from his mind, especially considering how jarring the through was that if Akashi had been his partner right now, they most like would have cleared this level by the first question. …But, then again, maybe the red-haired would have been in a foul mood because of his attempt to kiss him earlier and would have purposely gotten them disqualified. …he seriously doubted Akashi would ever lose on purpose though.

He shock his head away from Akashi. He needed to focus on getting a question right, or else he'd never leave this place! In the end, the two of them were the last to finish the contest by answering a very simple bonus question that the committee had clearly chose jut to get them out of there.

Kise and Aomine rushed over to the second gymnasium where the third contest was taking place, and headed for one of the cubicles to find out what this round was about.

"Borrowing race?" Kise and Aomine exclaimed looking confused at each other.

The girl had placed a few card in front of them in a fan shape and asked them to pick one, and they did.

_Hero debut!_ Was written on the card, something that left both Kise and Aomine baffled as to what exactly they had to do.

"Use this topic to complete the borrowing race." The girl said with a brilliant smile plastered upon her face, and Aomine was suddenly feeling chills run up his spine. What was it with these people thinking him so smart to be able to understand what they meant by writing two words on a piece of paper and tantalizingly dangling it in front of him.

"Is that like LeBron James?" Aomine asked thinking about one of the people he considered a 'Basketball hero'.

"But how do we bring him here?" Kise asked looking miserable, and Aomine wasn't feeling much better himself.

He couldn't help but slip and think to himself that Akashi would have definitely known what to do. But he immediately shock his head.

_Get a grip! Akashi isn't here! And I want those Air Jordans!_

He was distracted by the sound of a squeaking voice that he was too familiar with and loud footsteps echoing on the pavement and coming towards them.

"Stop right there, Kuroko!" Midorima whined as he chased after the smaller boy looking royally pissed. Kuroko looked as expressionless as ever, through Aomine could definitely sense some anxiety coming from the smaller boy. Murasakibara was tailing after them, and apparently keeping Midorima from catching up with Kuroko, while Momoi was struggling to catch up to the bunch.

As weird as the above scene might seem to the regular viewer, Aomine couldn't help but glare, open mouthed at the six foot tall Murasakibara dressed in a frilly long dress, with a blonde wig on top of his head. It was madness if Aomine ever saw one, and for a moment, nothing else registered to his mind, not even Kise's sudden stroke of genius managed to distract him till the other pinched his arm.

"The hell, Kise!"

"Aominecchi, this is our chance!"

"Chance?"

"Pretty girl!" Kise called up to the girl that had given them the challenge. "This is our answer to the borrowing race!"

Aomine glared at him. "Oi, Kise! What answer?"

"I'll explain later," Kise reassured him. "When they make their way over here, Aominecchi has to grab a hold of Kurokocchi and Midorimacchi, okay?"

Aomine was confused, but he did as he was told, and when Midorima and Kuroko came at him, he tackled the both of them and restrained them in a headlock. Kise grabbed hold of Murasakibara and Momoi as the two slowed after seeing Kuroko and Midorima restrained.

"Aomine, what are you doing?" Midorima asked peeved and Aomine shrugged. He had no idea if he were to be honest.

"Kise, what do we do after this?" he asked, but Kise just smiled at him and said.

"Good job, Aominecchi!" and he turned to the pretty lady and said: "Hero debut!"

And Aomine looked confused, up until he realized that the whole bunch of them could down right be some weird Power Ranger cosplayers what with their weird colored hairs. The only one that was missing was Akashi.

The lady seemed to clear them of the challenge, and Midorima stormed off after retrieving the shell that Kuroko had 'borrowed' from him (much to Aomine's relief), while Murasakibara ran off after Satsuki gave him a crêpe coupon.

The forth competition was a maze. And not just any maze, a haunted themed maze! Aomine was almost bouncing in excitement!

"Satsuki is scared of haunted houses," Aomine said when Kuroko asked Momoi why she was twitching and had frozen in place. Aomine was very much glad to see her squirm. Serves her right for all the nerves he had gone through because of her today… well, no, he didn't go through any trouble because of her today, but he still liked to see her squirm.

He quickly dashed past her and Kuroko, alongside Kise and entered the maze through the middle path when the thing split in 3.

And he was lost…

Well, they were lost.

"Do you seriously have no idea how to get out of here?" he asked Kise.

"I'm afraid I don't, ssu!"

Aomine grimaced and dashed forward.

"By the way Aominecchi, I've been meaning to ask. Why are you so grouchy today?"

Aomine turned to glare at Kise.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it's hard to explain ssu," Kise said as he scratched his head and rattled his brain for a way to put into word what he thought. "You seem, kind of…am… distracted, I guess. I mean more so than usual. And very moody."

"So?"

"So, I was wondering what was bothering you?" Kise asked and Aomine sigh.

He had no intention of pouring his heart out to Kise, if that was what the other was expecting. He was not that girly!

….

But… then again… Kise was kind of good when it came to the whole relationship thing (an early reminder of the legion of fangirls that he had came swooping to mind). And he did want to fix thing with Akashi… Maybe Kise could give him some advice as to how to get out of this mess, because he was absolutely terrified of making another mistake (Akashi's struggling form and silent protest came to mind, and Aomine was really staring to feel like shit all over again).

"Am… well, hypothetically," – yeah, original line, he knew, but people could cut him some slack. He wasn't much of a thinker anyway. "Let's say you tried to kiss someone, and that someone didn't want to be kissed… how would you go about fixing that thing?"

He was so not going to look at Kise right now! His mind was already conjuring up a bunch of ridiculously humiliating faces, where Kise was laughing his ass off at Aomine's stupidity and calling him all kinds of name, and he most definitely did not want to see the actual Kise doing that. He was certain he wouldn't be able to resist the urge to punch the blonde if he heard him laugh.

Kise didn't laugh.

"That's a tough one," the blonde said frowning.

Aomine turned to look at the other, a confused expression on his face. It was dark inside the maze, and he could barely see the other thanks to the limited light, but Kise was definitely not laughing from what he could make out of the blonde's face.

"There's really no easy answer." The blonde continued, as he resumed his pace and Aomine followed meekly behind him. "You can't really apologize, since, if you really wanted to kiss that person, you're not really sorry. And on the other hand, you don't really feel like apologizing, since, well, they basically rejected you, and you'd be feeling like crap, so, that person's hurt you're feeling as well. So, I'd say: keep your distance for the time being. You're both hurting or in shock right now, so a little space would be in order."

Aomine was shocked. He'd never really heard Kise speak so adult-like before, and frankly, he didn't know what to make of it. Everything that Kise told him was true. He was hurting, because he did feel like Akashi had rejected him at that point in time when he'd flinched away from him. And he did feel terribly about having upset the red-haired as well. And he really had no freaking clue how to fix the matter, so, maybe Kise was right… maybe he should give Akashi some time. Maybe things would be better if he did. For the both of them.

"Right," Aomine said, swallowing thickly. "Let's finish this damn competition." He said struggling with all his might to focus of the Air Jordan shoes and winning this contest. He was certain his eyes were getting stingy from standing in the dark for so long.

They eventually stumbled out of the maze, at the same time as Kuroko and Momoi were ready to begin the final quest. It seems that the two had beaten them out of the maze first, and their legs were already tied together, getting ready for the second two legged race back to the second play ground where the contest had started. As soon as the two saw them, Momoi and Kuroko started running as fast as they could.

"Congratulations!" the girl was telling them, but Aomine paid no mind. He liked the adrenaline rush that a second race presented him with, it kept his mind from other things, and he most definitely did not want to lose to Momoi and Kuroko.

"Hurry up and tie our legs!" he snapped at the girl, and she was quick to comply.

Not long after they started running after Kuroko and Momoi, both of the team getting to the second play ground long before any of the other teams were in sight. Kuroko and Momoi were still ahead, having gotten the advantage of leaving first, and Kise was very much dragging Aomine down, since their rhythm wasn't as good as the first time around.

Aomine saw that they were heading for the banner that he has hung for the two girls yesterday and felt like laughing. He was so not loosing this! And Kise dug his heals into the ground and started running faster, till they'd finally tied with Momoi and Kuroko.

Just a little more! There was no way Momoi and Kuroko could take them in the –

A sudden chill overtook him, just as he felt his foot collide with some kind of wire, that broke free, releasing a net that sprang forward to cage the 4 of them and pull them up to level with the trees, a heap of tangled limbs and sweaty mess.

"Never expected for there to be a trap set up at the last step…" Kuroko said clearly taken aback.

"Damn, I had a bad feeling about this!" Aomine remarked half enraged at the nerve of those people, half mad at himself for not avoiding the trap.

"Why didn't you dodge it like earlier?" Kise asked, and Aomine pouted. He was trying very hard to not let anything red and squeakies cloud his judgment that he'd been to late to react to his instincts.

"What would you have me do? I wasn't expecting them to set a trap at the finish line!" He told Kise instead of giving him his actual reason. He'd already told the blonde more than he was willing to share with anyone for today.

"Don't shout next to my ear!" Momoi complained and tried to distance herself from him.

Aomine was about to respond with a snappish remark, but he caught a sight out of the corner of his eyes. A boy and a girl making their way pass the net where they were tied up and across the finish line.

"First place!" the commentator declared as the four of them groaned in frustration.

The net was suddenly filled with protest as the Kise and Momoi voiced their displeasure at having the prize snatched away from them by the couple. Aomine lifted his head up to look at the falling leaves, and saw a bright red one, floating down towards him and land gently on top of hi lips.

"I've always liked you a lot!"

Someone said, and Aomine's head turned toward the noise to see the couple that had taken their win standing on the stage, looking lovingly at each other. The boy was apparently confessing.

"After today I'll like you more and more! Please go out with me!"

The girl blushed furiously, but returned the boy's loving look and nodded her head slowly.

"So cute," Momoi whispered breathlessly, seaming to have forgotten the fact that they two lovers down below had snatched their win away from them. So had Kise and Kuroko for that matter who were both giving the new couple approving smiles.

Aomine sighed and snatched the red leaf away from his lips. He seriously didn't know why he bothered thinking, when he knew things worked so much better for him when he acted on instinct. And his instincts were telling him right now to plant one on the red-haired as soon as he saw him again. If Akashi wanted to be mad at him, at the very least he'll give him a legitimate reason to be mad, but he was not going to shy away from the feeling that he had for the red-haired anymore. After all, love was something to be celebrated, Aomine reasoned as he watched the couple before him share a brief, loving kiss.

-OOOOO—

AN: Okay, so I think there are about 2 more chapters left to go (or maybe 1, we'll see) and I'll be done with this fic. Hope you guys liked this chapter and please review.


	4. Chapter 4

**At the School Festival Chapter 4**

A bag of sweat made its way down the person's neck, as his eyes wondered endlessly upon the Shogi board, searching, accounting for any move he might have misses, any small opening in the enemy's defense, any weakness he might take advantage of.

It had been minutes now, and Akashi was starting to get bored.

His opponent was a middle aged man, supposedly the Shogi club president, through Akashi was loath to consider that this was the best the Shogi club had to offer. Though Teiko wasn't as renowned for its Shogi club as it was for its Basketball club, so, he supposed that would explain the lack of challenge from the Club members. What surprised him was that they'd actually dared to offer up luxury prizes to anyone who could beat them. A fool's play on their side, and way too arrogant, considering the poor shape the president and all its club members were in.

Akashi had already claimed 4 wins, and this was going to be the fifth. It was only a matter of when the president made his final move. Akashi had already studied the board and knew exactly what move he'd make, given his tendencies and patters. It had been easy picking up on his patters, after all, it was said that the smarter you are, and the more well versed in a subject you are, the more predictable you became in that domain. That was the main reason Akashi didn't like limiting himself to one activity. He had to take several, even abandon certain activities for hours on end, just so he'd be able to look at them from a fresh perspective the next time around, and find new solutions. Always keep himself fresh, reinvent himself, every time in order to stay ahead of the curve, to be the best.

After a few more seconds of squirming from the Club President, he finally made the expected move, and Akashi was free to win the game.

"What is my prize this time?" Akashi asked bored, and after claiming his prize he finally exited the Club Room. No point in challenging weaklings if the best of the club had already lost to him so badly.

He decided to head on over to see if the members of the Chess club were any better, after all, he had already taken down the top 8 members of the Othello Club, and the best 10 of the Go club. None of them proved to be particularly interesting challenges. He'd dare say he'd had better competition from amateurs who moved the pieces at random. At least, there was a spark of unpredictability about their movement… that is, up until you got them cornered.

Akashi wondered around after demolishing the Chess and Go clubs. It was a sad phrasing even to his own mind, but that was the truth of the matter, and he didn't believe it was going to change anytime soon. He spared a glance at the prizes he'd won from the club room and nodded to himself satisfied. This was going to be enough to convince his father that he'd had a productive day, and not lazing about wasting money like most of the other kids were doing.

He suddenly caught himself wondering whether his Kiseki comrades had done anything productive today? No. They'd most likely lazed about with no regard for what that could do to their physic, because unlike the mind, the body needed constant stimulation in order to develop properly, even more so for athletes. He was so glad the summer vacations were going to begin. And with it, the Basketball club's Summer Training Camp. They had a tournament to train for after all, and Akashi felt like his team mates and himself had had enough time to relax after the Exam period, and they can go about resuming their training.

An image of Aomine slumped up against a tree sprang to mind, to confirm his trail of thinking. But then the incident that happened after he'd woken Aomine also sprang to mind, and Akashi found himself blushing furiously.

He was more furious than embarrassed to be honest. He'd long known that Aomine had no interest in him, so he really should have figured that the other was bluffing with him to get him to back off and let him get back to sleep. Which pissed off Akashi, because there was no way he'd permit Aomine to slack off like that! He was so not falling for his tricks the second time around, and the next time Aomine tried to trick him, he was gonna be ready.

Akashi exited the School onto the Second playground, and found Murasakibara and Midorima talking. Well, to be more precise, Midorima was trying to tell Murasakibara something, and the giant wasn't willing to listen. Both of them had taken off those ridiculous costumes that they had been wearing the last time Akashi had seen them.

"Aka-chin!" Murasakibara called upon spotting him. "How was your day?"

"Quite alright," Akashi answered as he stopped in front of them.

"We have no time for pleasantries!" Midorima interrupted, which Akashi found quite rude on his part. "I saw Kuroko and the others heading for the roof on one of the old buildings of the school!"

Akashi assumed that by the others, he was referring to: Kise, Momoi and Aomine. Those three were notorious for popping up wherever Kuroko went.

"Did it look like they were trying to cause any trouble?" Akashi asked curiously, not seeing how the development would relate to them.

"They have been causing trouble all day!" Midorima snapped furiously, and Akashi was again displeased by his tone.

This piece of information piqued Akashi's interest, and he instructed Midorima to lead the way while informing him of today's passings.

"I don't want to go after them," Murasakibara remarked. "Too much trouble."

"I'll give you the snacks I won from the contest if you tag along," Akashi offered, mostly because it would be advantageous strategically speaking to have Murasakibara there. Because if the others were up to no good, he'd need to subdue them, and he was no ninja, he couldn't be expected to take all of them at once.

Murasakibara nodded and they were on their way.

Akashi pondered about what Midorima said earlier. Aomine he could see getting into all kinds of trouble, and the blonde would follow him like a lost puppy, but Momoi and Kuroko usually stayed out of any shenanigans the two were up to, so he was rather curious to find out what exactly was it that the two had done to make Midorima so angry.

"They stole your lucky item…?" Akashi asked half way up the stairs of the building Midorima has guided them towards.

"Yes." Midoima responded, thinking this a great offense upon his persona. And frankly, Akashi knew how jarring it could be to have your personal belongings vandalized, but he honestly through Midorima was exaggerating a bit this time, given as they had apparently returned the item back to him.

Seeing as Midorima failed to bring forth any other proof that Kuroko and Momoi had been causing trouble all day, Akashi honestly failed to see a reason why he should pursue the matter any more, but then he looked down at the bag of prizes in his hands and decided that even Murasakibara might need help finishing them up until the end of the day, so he calmly proceeded up the stairs till they stumbled upon the roof.

The group was being rather loud, or rather, Aomine was snapping about at someone, which wasn't unusual. He was an insensitive jerk after all.

_Oh? Did I just think that?_ Akashi pondered and then shrugged the matter off.

"What are you all doing here?" He asked upon coming into view with the group. As expected, the usual suspects (Momoi, Kuroko, Kise and Aomine), were in sight, and for some reason, there was a mount of junk food hanging nearby where the group was. Obviously the ones being too loud where Aomine and Momoi, who were arguing about something Akashi really didn't care much about, but as soon as he posed his question, the both of them went quiet.

Momoi turned to look confused at them, while Aomine seemed to twitch for a second, before turning to look straight at Akashi, a peculiar look in his eyes that sent goosebumps down Akashi's back.

"It's dangerous to argue in such a tall place!" Midorima commented distracting Akashi from Aomine.

"Mukkun, Midorin, and even Akashi-kun, why are you guys here?" Momoi asked.

Midorima honestly replied that he'd come here thinking they were up to no good, to which Kuroko sarcastically remarked that they had been "branded as dangerous people for some reason".

"So, Murasakibaracchi and the others followed us?" Kise asked, for some reason finding this exciting.

"Nope," Murasakibara answered. "Aka-chin promised he'd give me sweets, so I tagged along."

"Aren't you giving him too much snacks Akashi?" Aomine asked, drawing Akashi's attention towards him. He had an even weirder expression on his face right now, and Akashi through he heard some spite in his voice…?

"No really," Akashi replied, not sure why the other would be bothered. Murasakibara devoured quite a lot of sweets on a daily basis, he was sure he could handle what he had in the bags, though he had no intention to let him eat everything alone.

"Kuro-chin do you want some snacks?" Asked Murasakibara, and Akashi had been waiting for just that. If there were people around him that he liked, Murasakibara'd share his food with them and wouldn't eat all the snacks by himself.

"Yes. I'll gladly take some."

It helped that Kuroko was such a willing participant.

"Alright! Let's eat yakisoba here too!" Aomine said, and made his way to the pile of food.

"Midorimacchi, how about it?" Kise asked politely.

Midorima scoffed. "Can't be helped. I'll take some."

They spread themselves in a small circle around the food. Midorima scoffed and said he won't sit next to Momoi since Cancers weren't compatible with Taurus' today, and he'd suffered enough misfortune at her hands. Kise offered to stand between the two, while Momoi harrumphed and grabbed on to Kuroko, pulling him next to her.

"I didn't want to sit next to Midorin either way."

Murasakibara shrugged and planted himself next to Midorima so that he'd be closer to the food, while Akashi was a little bit disappointed by Momoi's earlier action, since Kuroko just so happened to be standing between him and Aomine, before Momoi pulled him towards her.

"What the hell Satsuki?! Don't drag Tetsu over me!" Aomine scooped over to give Kuroko his previous place, but in doing so, didn't remark (or perhaps he didn't care), that he'd positioned himself a little bit too much into Akashi's personal space, so much so that they were bumping shoulders.

He most like didn't care, Akashi concluded when Aomine failed to distance himself from him, and Akashi wondered if it would be better to move a bit closer to Murasakibara in order to distance himself from Aomine, when:

"You're too close!" Midorima snapped at Murasakibara, and the giant hasted in getting out of the green-hair's face, and pushed himself towards Akashi, almost squishing him. Luckily, the sudden commotion seemed to have stirred Aomine, and the other grabbed Akashi by the waist and maneuvered the both of them away from Murasakibara. Though he and Aomine were sitting a bit too close to each other, and the other didn't seem to mind, since he was somewhat resting his weight on Akashi for some reason, and the red-haired suddenly felt his cheeks heat up.

_Get a grip! You're in public! _A snappish voice reminded him, and Akashi quickly composed himself.

Everyone started grabbing hold of a pack of snacks and began digging in, so Aakshi did the same.

"Midorin looks rather lively today," Momoi remarked.

"I wouldn't say so," Midorima was quick to defend. "I happened to receive Oha Asa merchandise from the Astrology Club as a thank you for helping out with the customers today, so I'm feeling a bit well humored."

"Doesn't that mean you're in a good mood?" Momoi asked, slightly surprised at Midorima's reluctance to enjoy his good fortune. Though she soon got distracted by Kuroko, who had apparently stumbled upon a chocolate from the stash Akashi received that was "delicious!". Murasakibara was quick to demand a chunk and Akashi was quick to scold him for spilling his food.

Though, amidst the chaos that could always be attributed to one of their get-togethers, Akashi was quite fond of his fellow Kiseki comrades, and very much liked observing the cheerful bickering that would always go about. He remembered usually being stuck there, just outside the precipice, like looking onto a screen where the movie was taking place. And he was very much content sitting there, observing the chaos and laughter and noise fill his vision. Never truly a part of it, but never fully separated.

Though there was something missing today… someone who'd always bicker with Kise and Momoi for whatever reason. Who Kuroko would always try to reconcile with the other two. Who was louder than anyone else in the group, but for whatever reason, he didn't seem to be willing to make a sound today.

Kuroko seemed to notice the abnormality too, because he was suddenly looking in his direction, a little bit to his left. Akashi turned his head to that direction and came face-to-face with Aomine, who was staring down at him, an unreadable look on his face.

Akashi's breath suddenly caught in his throat when he became aware of their proximity. They were still standing shoulder-to-shoulder, which made Aomine just a few inches taller than him, and which meant that their faces were way too close, Akashi could almost feel Aomine's breath on his skin.

Without realizing it Akashi backed away from the other, head tilting downwards, trying hard not to let a blush color his cheeks, because if anyone saw him like that… he'd rather die before that happened.

Aomine tusked beside him, and opened up the bag that Akashi didn't realize he'd been holding in his hands up until he heard the plastic pop open.

"Akashicchi, how about some yakisoba?" Kise asked, and Akashi turned to observe him, fearing that the other might have noticed his strange behavior, but the blonde looked genuinely good natured.

"Are there people who don't like yakisoba?" Aomine asked as he picked up a pair of chopsticks and began digging in to his share.

"Aomine, that is prejudicial of you," Akashi said, and as his head turned towards Aomine, he noticed a glimpse out of his eyes, that made his gaze wonder towards Kuroko's face, who was looking suspiciously at the blue-haired. He didn't have time to determine what was bothering Kuroko, since Aomine summoned his attention again.

"So, you hate it," he proclaimed, like he knew everything.

"I don't hate it," Akashi defended.

"Then, here you go!" Kise extended him a pack.

"But I do hate red pickled ginger," Akashi clarified.

"Huh?" Kise exclaimed.

"Really?" Aomine asked looking curious.

"We all have different likes and dislikes," Akashi remarked, thinking Aomine's interest somewhat strange. The blue-hair had never been interested in anything he did before if it wasn't Basketball related.

"Akashi-kun, this yakisoba doesn't have red pickled ginger." Kuroko said and passed him the bag, which Akashi took gratefully. Kuroko glanced sideways at Aomine, seaming to think that there was something wrong with him, and Akashi was having the same suspicions as well. The other was still way too quiet.

"How about we take a photo with everyone?" Momoi suggested, and Kise joined in.

"That's a great idea! I have a camera! Everyone gather round!"

And he pulled out his flashy digital camera from his pocket as proof.

Momoi was quick to pull Kuroko towards her and snuggle close to Kise, while Murasakibara pushed himself into Midorima, who bumped into the blonde while complaining loudly.

"Ah, so troublesome…" Aomine complained and raised himself up while grabbing on to Akashi's sleeve.

"Don't be so rude!" Momoi snapped at Aomine, and Akashi had half a mind to snap at him himself, because Aomine was guiding him around like a dog on a leash.

"It's said that whoever stands in the middle will die first," Midorima remarked trying to get away from Murasakibara and Kise.

Murasakibara was quick to recoil and stand up. "Then, Mido-chin can stand in the center."

"Why does it have to be me?" Midorima asked outraged after he'd risen himself from the ground and jumped away from Kise.

"Then I'll be in the middle," Kuroko said as means to placid everyone.

"No! Don't Tetsu-kun!" Momoi was quick to jump to his defense. "Aomine-kun can be in the middle!"

"Why me?!" Aomine snapped enraged, and Akashi was becoming self conscious of the fact that the other wasn't just holding his sleeve now, he was holding his hand. Akashi discretely moved closer to Aomine and tried to hide behind him, so that the others wouldn't notice.

"Because even if someone tried to kill you, you wouldn't die!" Momoi said as justification, and Kise nodded his consent.

"You guys…." Aomine looked ready to explode on them, and Akashi prayed that he didn't because it would be terribly awkward if the other started chasing after Kise and Momoi while still holding his hand.

Fortunately Kise intervened.

"You better all line up, because I've set the timer!" he warned, and everyone scrambled to form a line.

Kuroko placed himself in the middle, while Momoi clung to him in dread.

"If I die together with Tetsu-kun, I'll at least die happy," she reasoned to herself.

Kise placed his arm on Momoi's shoulder and raised a peace sign with his other hand, while Midorima discretely positioned himself behind the blonde. Murasakibara stood right behind Kuroko, arms filled with snacks he wasn't willing to part with not even to take a photo, while Aomine rushed to Kuroko's side while dragging Akashi with him. The blue-haired leaned an arm onto Kuroko's shoulder, while the hand that had been holding on to Akashi's finally released, to wonder behind his waist and pull the red-haired toward his chest in a one-handed embrace, which had Akashi nearly screaming in protest at him, but he really did not want to advertize their compromising position to the others, so he stayed put.

The camera flashed and the photo was taken, and Akashi was quick to distance himself from Aomine while the others were still distracted. Only then realizing that as soon as the others would see the photo, they'd notice the two of them sitting much too close to each other.

"Kise, you better send me a copy tonight!" Aomine warned.

"I will Aominecchi! I just have to upload it to my computer," Kise assured.

Akashi was suddenly left wondering if he had a chance at destroying the camera before the blonde could do that…

Too late it seemed, as the blonde placed the camera in his pocket.

"I want a copy too!" Momoi was quick to pitch in.

"I'll send everyone a copy," Kise assured.

And everyone started making their way towards the stairs.

Akashi, was in a bit of a panic. He was more preoccupied with getting the camera to erase any kind of evidence that he'd been in such a compromising position with Aomine. Why the blue-haired had pulled Akashi towards him, the red-haired didn't know (most like to screw with him for not having let him laze about earlier), and he was too preoccupied right now to find out.

"Where are you going?" Akashi called out to the others.

Everyone turned to look questioningly at him.

"Am, home?" Kise replied and the rest nodded.

"And what about the mess you guys made?" Akashi said, eyebrow rising dangerously high as he glared at the waste of plastic bags and potato chips and unfinished pile of candy still lingering the floor where they'd eaten. "Who do you suppose will clean that up?"

A gush of wind suddenly blew over, taking with him the empty bags of yakisoba and chocolate wrappers, and leftovers of chips, up until only a few bits remained here and there of their early mess.

"Well, that was helpful…" Kise said sweet dropping, but Akashi mistook that for enthusiasm, and was very much glad for the excuse to dig his heals into them.

"I want ten laps from each of you!"

"Why nanodayo?!" Midorima asked outraged.

"For littering!" He replied, and everyone took down their jackets and started running as per Akashi's instructions, while Akashi snuck up on the unsuspecting pile of clothes and pulled out Kise's camera.

He smiled lightly as he found the photo and deleted it. However, unbeknown to him, Kise had a tendency to upload the photos on his Cloud account and had already sent the photo over, so all of Akashi's work was for nothing.

After everyone finished their laps, they left the building, Momoi being carried down by Murasakibara because her legs failed to support her.

"Man, that was exhausting," Kise complained, while cranking his neck and massaging it gingerly with his right hand.

"You're complaining too much nonodayo," Midorima jumped on him. "It was our responsibility to take care of the leftovers."

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm actually feeling somewhat energetic," Aomine said.

The others turned to give him a begrudging look, especially Momoi who was still clinging onto Murasakibara.

"I knew you couldn't be killed so easily," she remarked, and Aomine got pissed at her.

"I suggest you all head home and pack up for our Summer Camp," Akashi advised them.

"Eh? Isn't Akashi-kun gonna walk home with us?" Kuroko asked surprised.

"No." Akashi said, looking apologetic. "I'm going to go check to see that the Riddle Society didn't mess up the court while they used it for their contest."

"Want us to come with you?" Kise asked.

"That won't be necessary," Akashi refused politely. He turned on his heals and walked away from them towards the Training Grounds.

-OOOOO—

**AN**: So, there's one more chapter to go, which may or may not be up by tomorrow. Hope you guys like this and please review.

**PS**: The GOM gathering in this chapter ids actually from the Second Drama CD, that continues off from where the Second Novel left off and reveals that Akashi, Muu-kun and Midorin ended up gathering on the roof top with the others to have a picnic of sorts.


	5. Chapter 5

**At the School Festival Chapter 5**

"I was actually hoping Akashicchi would walk home with us for once," Kise said a bit disappointed.

Aomine on the other hand, was more thrilled than disappointed. This was his chance! He had a gut feeling about it!

"We won't be coming to school tomorrow, so better safe than sorry, I suppose," Satsuki said.

Aomine listened lightly to the mindless chatter as he undid his tie from his neck and stuffed it in his pocket.

"Oh! I think I forgot my tie!" he lied and quickly spun around, pretending to run for the building where they had been earlier.

"Seriously?!" Satsuki scolded. "How careless can you be?!"

"Want me to come with you Aominecchi?" Kise asked, but Aomine had already tailed it.

"No, thanks!" He shouted at them. "You guys go on ahead! I'll catch up if I can!"

And he rushed forward, past the school's first playground, up until he was completely out of sight. Then he turned around to make sure no one was following him, and then sprinted forward towards the Basketball Court.

To be honest, it discouraged him a bit the fact that Akashi had twice shied away from him in the last hour, but he still stubbornly wanted to kiss the red-haired. He'll think about what he'll do after that when the time came, because he was just not used to thinking that far ahead, and it gave him a headache to even imagine all the possible scenarios.

Aomine came upon the Training Ground and found the door open. He quickly entered and found Akashi exiting the locker room, apparently just having checked the place up.

Akashi stared at him startled.

"What are you doing here?" the red-haired asked.

Aomine made his way over towards the red-haired and said: "I wanted to talk to you."

"What about?" Akashi asked clearly nervous. And those nerves didn't bode well for Aomine.

"Relax! I'm not gonna eat you," he said without thinking, and stopped a few inches away from the red-head. And then nearly cursed himself for the stupid saying, because it somewhat reeked of lies to him.

"I'm relaxed!" Akashi said and now the nervousness was clear to hear even in his voice and his stance as he backed away from him. Or at the very least, he tired to back away from him, but Aomine grabbed him by the hand and pulled him forward, crushing him to his chest and enveloping him in a tight hug, as he settled his chin upon the other's head.

"You're shaking," Aomine said, stating the obvious, as he felt the other shiver uncontrollably in his arms.

Akashi didn't say anything, or maybe he wouldn't. He stayed quiet in Aomine's embrace, not even trying to put up a struggle. The only indication of something wrong was the slight tremors that rocked his body.

Aomine was beginning to worry.

"Are you cold?" He asked the other as he pulled him closer towards him, enveloping him in his school jacket. "Or, are you scared of me?"

He was seriously hoping Akashi was just cold… but the sudden twitch Akashi gave when he posed the second question made him think otherwise. There was sudden dread filling his stomach. What the fuck had he done to make Akashi scared of him? Did that smile form earlier this morning really scare him that much? Or –

"Why are you doing this?" Akashi asked in a whisper, that Aomine almost missed it.

"Doing what?" Aomine asked, more out of confusion than anything else.

"This!" Akashi said as he lifted his head from Aomine's chest to look at him. And Aomine really wanted to know what the hell he meant, because the red-haired did look ready to burst into tears at any moment. Fortunately for him, Akashi had quite a list of chores to bombard him with. "Hugging me, and holding my hand and nearly kissing me, or whatever is it that you tried to do earlier! Are you trying to mock me or are you trying to get under my skin? Because I don't know how to react to that!"

As he kept talking, his voice seamed to rise higher and higher, till the last part came out like an all out scream. Aomine let him vent, not really certain what to do in this scenario. And it got really awkward for a moment there as Akashi stared at him in silence for a few seconds, and he had no idea what the other was waiting for. Till he finally snapped out of his stupor and said:

"I want to kiss you."

And then it was Akashi's turned to look dumbfounded at him, but Aomine didn't let him wait long, as he bent his head down and claimed those lips that had plagued his nightmares for the entirety of the previous night.

They were just as soft as he'd imagined, and they felt so good against his own, with Akashi's body tangled up in his. He pulled the red-haired even closer, crashing their lips together, breathing in the other's sweet scent, and for one whole moment, everything was perfect.

Till Akashi started to squirm and protesting, trying to pull away from him. And for a moment, Aomine almost didn't let him. He wanted to hold on tight and keep the red-head secure in his arms and feel his lips crashing with him own. But he knew it was futile to do so, so he let him go.

Akashi stumbled till he came to rest up against the wall, right hand raised up to his lips, eyes downcast and cheeks red as the morning sun. He was quite a sight, Aomine thought as he observed the other. But he wasn't mad. He looked like he was about to cry again.

Aomine really started to feel uncomfortable standing there, so he decided he'd done what he'd came here to do.

"Well, I'll be going now…" he said a little awkwardly, and was about to turn on his heals, when he heard Akashi snap:

"You're leaving?!" in an incredulous voice. "You're just gonna go after that?!"

Aomine turned to look at the other, and observed that the deep blush had been replaced with an angry hue of fiery red.

"Well, you clearly don't feel the same way, so –"

"Fell what way, Aomine?! You never said anything about what you feel!" Akashi said, folding his hands upon his chest, palms squeezed into fists, like he was trying really hard to not punch Aomine in the face or something.

"Yes I did," Aomine said looking offended.

Akashi took an intake of breath and tried to forcibly calm himself down, before replying in a deadly cold voice: "You said that you wanted to kiss me. You never told me why."

Aomine glared at him.

"Isn't it obvious –"

An then suddenly he remembered the other's speech about Akashi thinking that Aomine was trying to mock him or something, and he suddenly felt kind of stupid for not having cleared that part up. And then he felt a little bit insulted.

"You seriously think I'd joke around with something like this?"

"I don't know Aomine! Why don't you tell me?!"

"I fucking like you! Okay?" Aomine snapped, really not understanding how someone so smart couldn't understand such a simple thing. "I kissed you, because I like you."

The both of them were stuck motionless for a second, just looking into each other's eyes, the anger slowly draining out of them.

Akashi broke eye-contact first. His brain going into overdrive thanks to the information it had been privy to, and not knowing how to respond, it just asked the first thing that came to mind:

"Why?"

"What?" Aomine asked, not sure what to make of Akashi's question.

"Why do you like me?" the red-haired asked in a small voice, stomach churning with the emotions and fears that Aomine's earlier confession brought upon him.

"Why, you ask?" Aomine mussed on that for a while, and Akashi tentatively lifted his head to look at him.

"Because you're cute," Aomine said at last, while looking Akashi straight in the eyes, and Akashi suddenly averted his gaze, cheeks reddening up again.

Aomine wanted to take back his earlier words, as he gazed upon the flushed red-haired. He wasn't cute:

"You're fucking adorable," he said, as he made his way towards the red-haired. Akashi flushed even harder as he tried to avert his eyes from him, and struggled a few times with opening and closing his mouth, but no words would come out.

Aomine lazily placed both of his hands on either side of the red-hair's head, and leaned in to inhale that sweet sent of his. He couldn't quite make out what it was, but he already loved it.

"Aomine…" Akashi whispered breathlessly, as he flushed harder, snapping his eyes shut things.

"You should see yourself right now," Aomine whispered, feeling the breath catch in his throat at the sight before him. "Than you'd have no reason to doubt why I'd fall for you."

"Please stop…" Akashi whispered breathlessly, while trying to push himself back into the wall.

"Why?" Aomine asked, his hands moving from the walls to rest onto Akashi's waist, securing him in place.

"Because…"

"Because…?" he asked and leaned in to plant a soft kiss on the other's neck. "You haven't given me any reason to stop," he whispered softly in the red-hair's ear and slightly nibbled on it, making Akashi flush even harder.

"Because I want you to stop," Akashi said, with a half-handed attempt to push the other away.

Aomine pulled back to look the other in the eye and asked: "Do you like me?"

Akashi was still half dazed because Aomine was just too close, and this wasn't good for his brain and he just answered trustfully: "Yes…"

"I mean no!" Akashi was quick to say after he'd realized what he'd said, and tried to push Aomine away.

"Well, is that a yes or a no?" Aomine asked confused.

"It's a no!" Akashi insisted and tried to push him away, but Aomine wouldn't budge.

"I heard a yes," Aomine said.

"You heard wrong!"

"I felt a yes!" He insisted.

"What does that even mean?" Akashi asked more than a bit freaked out.

"Right now, when I was holding you in my arms, I felt a yes!"

"You mean, me pushing you away means yes to you?!"

"You letting me touch you earlier was a yes to me!"

"Why won't you take no for an answer?!" Akashi asked half delirious in his struggle.

"Because I'm desperate for a yes!" Aomine answered sincerely. "And I heard you say yes, earlier Akashi! Why are you struggling so much against this if this is what we both want?!"

"Because my father would kill me if I said yes!" Akashi snapped, and suddenly clapped his hands over his mouth. "I mean, I don't want this," he tried to quickly correct himself, but Aomine glared at him as if to say '_do I look that stupid_', and Akashi hung his head in shame.

Aomine backed away from Aakshi, and the red-haired raised his head to look at the blue-haired questioningly. Had he given up already? Amine's eyes were cast to the floor, shoulders slightly hunched, and arms tucked in his pocket.

Akashi was begging to worry he might have upset the other too much and was just about to reach for him, when Aomine said.

"I haven't even thought about what my parents would say about this…"

"About what?" Akashi asked meekly, dreading the answer.

"About me liking a boy," Aomine said grumpily, eyes still downcast.

Akashi seriously didn't know what to tell him. Honestly speaking, this entire episode with Aomine was still making his head spin. He had no idea how to feel about it. If he were honest with himself, he didn't even want to think about it.

"But apparently you did," Aomine said drawing Akashi's gaze towards him. The blue hair's eyes were fixed on him, a new kind of resolve in them that really made Akashi feel uneasy all over again.

"Excuse me?" Akashi asked not having understood his last sentence.

"You thought about it," Aomine told him. "About what your father would say if he found out you like me."

"So?" Akashi asked not really following his trail of thoughts.

Amine smiled to himself, which made Akashi nervous.

"When did you think about that?" Aomine asked, eying him like he'd just won the jackpot.

"I don't see how that's any of your business!" Akashi said as he folded his hands in front of his chest and glared at him.

"Oh, I think it most certainly is," Aomine said, as his lips twitched upwards into a crooked-smile, hands leaning back against the wall on either side of Akashi's head. "Since you like me."

"What does –"

"And if you do, that means you've fantasized about me."

"No, I haven't," Akashi said with a stubborn look upon his face, eyes firmly downcast.

"Really?" Aomine asked while leaning in to whisper: "Are you looking at my crotch right now?"

Akashi's head immediately snapped up like lightning, face reddening like a tomato's.

"No, I –"

"You what?" Aomine asked, smile dropping from his face. "Don't tell me you've never thought about it. About how it would feel like to have my hands wrapped around your body," and as he said so, his hands wrapped around Akashi's waist, pulling him closer. "About how it would feel like to feel my body against yours," and he leaned forward, pressing their bodies together, head resting between Akashi's neck and shoulder blade inhaling deeply.

"Aomine stop…" Akashi pleased breathlessly as he squirmed to get out of the other's embrace.

"You've never dreamed of feeling my lip on your skin?" Aomine asked and kissed Akashi's neck gently, and then let his breathing wash over the spot.

Akashi trembled as he felt gosebumps wash over him at Aomine's ministration. He needed the other to stop before things got out of hand.

"Aomi–" He tried to say, but Aomine's mouth landed on his neck and started sucking gently on the spot he'd kissed earlier, and Akashi gasped softly, his brain suddenly going blank.

Truth be told, he'd never felt any kind of sensation like this before. Sexual education was not high on his father's list, so he honestly had had no experience with the sensation that came with wanting someone up until he'd started liking Aomine. And even then, he'd been so freaked out by what he'd read on the internet about what the term 'like' meant, that he hadn't even bothered to look any further. He had instead resolved himself to not think about the other at all, it was easier that way. And when he slipped, his dreams were still small and chaste, like a kiss here and there. He'd never even once masturbated before. Nor did he have any idea what that term meant for that matter. Yet, here he was, pressed up against a wall with Aomine running his hands all over him, making him feel all kinds of new sensations he wasn't remotely familiar with, and he was terrified. But it felt too damn good for him to want to stop Aomine.

And suddenly, Aomine's lips were upon him, biting and sucking and licking and so demanding, he had no choice but to comply. He gasped softly and Aomine's tongue slithered inside him mouth, caressing his own, and he felt small little electric shocks make their way to his brain and completely shut it down.

Akashi's wasn't thinking any more, he was too lost in the sensation of it all. He reached forward and tangled his hands in Aomine's hair, crushing the other towards him in a choked embrace, opening his mouth wider, and tongue reaching out to dance with Aomine's as he moaned softly into the kiss.

Aomine growled approvingly and let his hands wonder beneath Akashi's shirt wanting to feel the other's skin on his own. His kisses became more aggressive, as he sucked and nibbled the other's tongue, making Akashi moan loudly with pleasure, and, somehow, it was still no enough. He wanted to tear the clothes of the other and feel Akashi's skin up against his as the red-haired squirmed and moaned underneath him.

_RING! RING!_

A phone was ringing, and it sure as hell wasn't his, because if it was, he was going to kill the caller!

Aomine broke the kiss as he felt Akashi struggling to disentangle himself from him, and pulled out his cellophane from his pocket.

Akashi took a deep breath to calm his racing heart, as Aomine rested his head upon his shoulder, equally flustered.

"Hello," Akashi answered.

"You're running late," he heard the cold voice of his father whisper from the other line of the phone. "Do you have any club activities I wasn't aware of?"

"No, father, I was just locking up. I'll be home in 10 minutes."

"See that you do," and his father hung up.

Akashi let out a long suffering breath, and inhaled sharply, hoping to calm his labored breathing. He was so glad his father hadn't picked up on it. His head rested softly against the wall. He suddenly felt hot breath upon his cheek, so he turned his head to stare at Aomine, who had his own head rested up against the cold wall, face turned towards him, and lips so close to his own, he could touch them if he just leaned forward.

_No! No, no, no, no, no, no! __He was not doing that! He was going home! Right now!_

But Aomine still held him in his embrace. One arm was still crawled up his shirt, while the other was circling his waist. Their bodies were still so close to each other.

"Aomine, please let me go," he asked breathlessly and prayed that the other would comply.

Aomine's lips broke into a smile, as he brought his head back for the wall to look him in the eyes.

"Sure," Aomine said, hand slipping from inside his shirt, and the other hand coming to rest on the wall, seemingly to support the blue-hair's weight. "I'll let you go, for now," and he gave Akashi one last lingering kiss on the forehead before pushing himself away from him.

"I'll see you at Summer Camp," the blue haired said as he spun on his heals and started walking away while giving him a little wave.

Akashi exhaled softly, as he stared after Aomine till the blue-haired was out of sight. He suddenly felt his body slump down the wall from exhaustion, and he let himself lean up against the wall for support, feeling extremely irritated with himself for too many reasons.

Damn that Aomine! This was going to be a long Summer…

-OOOOO—

**AN**: And that is the last chapter of this mini-fic. Hope you guys enjoyed and please review!


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